Committee members want to change way contracts are written to ensure fair wages

A City Council committee wants Cincinnati’s leadership to
investigate whether workers in a Clifton Heights development project are being paid
what they’re supposed to.

The Strategic Growth Committee on Wednesday passed a motion
asking the city administration to report back on wage payments to workers on
the U Square development. The project includes a parking garage as well as
residential and commercial units.

Under Ohio law, workers on projects funded by cities must be paid
a prevailing wage, which is equivalent to the wage earned by a union worker on
a similar project.

The city only has money invested in the garage, and the state of Ohio recently ruled that
workers on other parts don’t have to be paid prevailing wage.

Council members Wendell Young, Cecil Thomas and Laure Quinlivan
produced a video in which they interviewed carpenters who said they were being
paid less than the prevailing wage.

At issue is a letter from developer Towne Properties that says
the company will pay all workers prevailing wage anyway. Arn Bortz with Towne
Properties said his company cuts a check to subcontractors respecting that
agreement, so if workers aren’t being paid the proper amount it’s their fault.

City Solicitor John Curp told members of the Strategic Growth
Committee that under city and state law, the subcontractors are not required to
pay workers a prevailing wage on parts of the project that are not getting
public funding. He said the letter from the developer does not hold the weight
as a legal contract.

Young, Thomas, Quinlivan and Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld all
expressed the need to overhaul the way the city enters into development
contracts to better protect workers.

However, City Manager Milton Dohoney hinted that overzealous
requirements for high wages could chase off some development projects.

He said that a project like U Square is tied to the Clifton
location because of its proximity to the University of Cincinnati, but the city
can’t be too restrictive when it comes to businesses that could expand
elsewhere.

Dohoney said the city also doesn’t currently have the manpower to
do the kind of aggressive enforcement that the council members were asking for.

Councilman Young countered that he would like to see the city be
as aggressive with enforcement as they are with making economic development
deals.

“We want to change the rules of the game to make sure everyone is
treated equal,” Young said.

Council members urge city to investigate worker wages

Some members of city council agreed that the city needs to
take a hard look at the way it inspects projects done with taxpayer
money, but they took no action during a special joint committee meeting
Thursday to discuss allegations that workers were being underpaid at the
University Square development in Clifton.

Council members Laure Quinlivan, Cecil Thomas and Wendell
Young presented a video investigation they conducted, which included interviews
with workers on the project who claim they were being taken advantage of
by the University Square developers.

Under Ohio and Cincinnati law, workers on projects funded
by taxpayers must be paid a so-called “prevailing wage” (the same as a
unionized worker) and be given benefits.

In Cincinnati, that wage is $23.17 an hour for the carpentry work done by the workers interviewed for the video.

The workers in the video claimed they were paid $500 for working a 60-hour week.

“Five-hundred dollars a week to me when you don’t have a
job, that’s a lot,” said Garrick Foxx, a construction worker on the
project.

“But actually when you average it out, it’s not. Like to
the hour-wise it’s probably like 9-something, so like I could actually
make that working at McDonalds.”

The University Square developer — a collaboration between
Towne Properties and Al. Neyer, Inc. — is building a complex with a
parking garage, residential units and retail space.

The City of Cincinnati has $21 million invested in the
parking garage. The State of Ohio recently ruled that the prevailing
wage provisions apply only workers constructing the garage that the city
has money invested in.

Arn Bortz with Towne Properties said the controversy was
ginned up by unions and it hasn’t been proven that workers are being
underpaid.

“All of this was started by the unions themselves because
they became very unhappy when the State of Ohio said a sizeable portion
of our project was not subject to prevailing wage,” Bortz said. “They
tried then to discredit and intimidate anyone who is on the other side
of the table.”

Bortz said he agreed to pay a prevailing wage even to
workers who worked on parts of the project not subject to the law. He
said he cuts a check to the subcontractors based on that agreement.

“Whether any of those subcontractors might have been
unfair to the workers, we do not know,” Bortz said. “If they were, they
should be made to be fair.”

Deputy City Solicitor Aaron Herzig said if the contract
required a particular wage be paid and it wasn’t, the city can bring a
breach of contract action against the developers. But to start an
investigation, a complaint must first be made.

The council members asked that their investigation be considered a formal complaint.

Conservative groups are pushing Ohio to purge its voter
rolls. The move is largely seen by Democrats as an attempt to
disenfranchise and suppress voters. The groups in support of the purge, which include Judicial Watch and True the Vote, typically cite
voter-related errors and voter fraud as the main reason for their efforts, but
there have been 10 cases of in-person voter fraud since 2000, according to a
News21 study. Florida Gov. Rick Scott also pushed for a voter purge in his state, but Democrats vowed to fight the purge at every step.

The Historic Conservation Board ruled in favor of the Anna
Louise Inn yesterday. The ruling means the inn can now move ahead with
its multi-million renovation project. The board’s ruling was despite
Western & Southern, which has tried to block the renovation as part
of a broader attempt to shut down the inn and buy up the property. CityBeat extensively covered W&S’s attempts here.

Cincinnati is No. 7 in the country for job growth, a study
from Arizona State University found. Cincinnati beat out Riverside,
Calif., but it lost to San Francisco, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle
and San Diego.

Secretary of State Jon Husted was advised to fire the
Democrats on the Montgomery Board of Elections by Jon Allison, who
overheard the hearing on the firings on Aug. 20. Allison is also the
former chief of staff to Republican Gov. Bob Taft. The Democrats on the
board attempted to expand in-person early voting to weekends despite
Husted’s call to uniform voting hours that include no weekend voting.
Ohio Democratic Party Chris Redfern said the recommendation was “no
surprise” and the Republican Party should be expected to support
voter suppression by now.

The federal government has given the go-ahead for fracking in Wayne
National Forest in Ohio. The go-ahead will open up more than 3,300 acres for auction. Environmental critics say fracking is unsafe and
should be banned, but Gov. John Kasich insists the process can be made
safe with proper regulations. Previous analyses have found natural gas,
which is produced from fracking, could help combat climate change. CityBeat previously covered the uncertainty behind fracking here.

Kentucky is getting another creationist attraction. Apparently
not content with the false claims asserted at the Creation
Museum and Ark Encounter, a new group wants to build a brick-and-mortar
for the Founders of Creation Science Hall of Fame.

A private funeral service is planned in Cincinnati for
Neil Armstrong, who died last Saturday. A public funeral will be held at
Wapakoneta. Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. His first
steps inspired curiosity and innovation around the world when he said,
“One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Politicians will
talk up Armstrong’s accomplishment in the following days, but Democrats and Republicans both supported cuts to NASA’s budget in
recent years that Armstrong opposed.

Inn could get go-ahead for renovation Monday, but Western & Southern expected to appeal

The Cincinnati Historic Conservation Board will receive a
recommendation on Monday to approve a conditional use permit for the
Anna Louise Inn, which would allow the Inn to move forward with a
multimillion-dollar renovation of its building.

The Conservation Board staff reviewed the standards required
for conditional use and the Anna Louise Inn’s application, concluding
that the facility should be allowed to operate as a “special assistance
shelter.”

The Board is expected to rule on the permit Aug. 27 after
receiving the recommendation and hearing testimony from the Inn’s
administrators and supporters. Representatives from Western &
Southern Financial Group, which sued the Anna Louise Inn over zoning
violations in 2011, will also have an opportunity to testify.

CityBeat last week reported the details of Western
& Southern’s failure to purchase the Anna Louise Inn when it had the
chance and the company’s subsequent attempts to force the Inn out of
the neighborhood (“Surrounded by Skyscrapers", issue of Aug. 15).

Tim Burke, lawyer for the Anna Louise Inn, is pleased with
the staff’s determination that the renovation met all qualifications
for conditional use.

“I was certainly optimistic that we would get a positive
recommendation,” Burke says. “This is obviously an extremely positive
recommendation and we agree with it.”

The staff recommendation states that the Anna Louise Inn
“creates, maintains and enhances areas for residential developments that
complement and support the downtown core” and that “no evidence has
been presented of any negative public health, safety, welfare or
property injury due to the current use.” It also notes that “the Anna
Louise Inn is a point of reference from which all other new and
renovated buildings must be designed in order to be compatible with the
district.”

The Anna Louise Inn only applied for the conditional use
permit because Judge Norbert Nadel ruled in Western & Southern’s
favor on May 4, determining that the Inn is a “special assistance
shelter” rather than “transitional housing,” which froze $12.6 million
in city- and state-distributed loans for the Inn’s planned renovation.
The Anna Louise Inn appealed that decision but also applied for the
conditional use permit from the Conservation Board under the judge’s
definition, because special assistance shelters qualify for conditional
use permits under the city’s zoning code.

Francis Barrett, lawyer for Western & Southern, appears
to have taken exception to the Anna Louise Inn’s application. He sent a
letter to the Conservation Board Aug. 20 stating that “the description
of the proposed uses set forth in the application for conditional use
approval … is not the same as nor consistent with the Court’s decision.”

Barrett didn't return a message left by CityBeat with the receptionist at his law firm after a Western & Southern media relations representative directed CityBeat to contact him there. Francis Barrett is the brother of Western & Southern CEO John F. Barrett.

UPDATE: Francis Barrett returned CityBeat’s call after this story was published. His comments are at the end.

Burke doesn’t know what Barrett meant by suggesting that
the proposed uses in the Anna Louise Inn’s application for conditional use don’t follow
Nadel’s May 4 ruling.

“We’re doing what they argued in court,” Burke says.
“Judge Nadel’s decision doesn’t ever exactly say ‘you’re a special
assistance shelter.’ It certainly refers to the Off the Streets program
that way and it certainly refers to (the Anna Louise Inn) as a single
unified use. It says ‘go back to the appropriate administrators and seek
conditional use approval.’ That’s what we’re doing.”

Stephen MacConnell, president and CEO of Cincinnati Union Bethel, which owns the Anna Louise Inn, says the hearing will involve testimony from himself and Mary
Carol Melton, CUB executive vice president, along with supporters of
the Anna Louise Inn.

“We’ll bring a few witnesses just to basically lay out the
situation,” MacConnell says. “The board will already have the staff
recommendation, so the witnesses that we’ll bring will briefly testify
about how we meet the required standards.”

Western & Southern will have a chance to appeal if the
Historic Conservation Board grants the conditional use permit. Burke
expects that to happen.

“What I’m pissed about is Western & Southern, they
don’t give a damn,” Burke says. “We can do exactly what Judge Nadel told
us to do and get it approved as a conditional use. They will appeal it
to the zoning board of appeals. We can win it there and they will
appeal it and get it back in front of Judge Nadel and then I don’t know
what will happen.”

The hearing is scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. Monday, Aug. 27 at Centennial Plaza Two, 805 Central Ave., Seventh Floor.

UPDATE 5:36 P.M.: Regarding the letter Francis Barrett sent the
Conservation Board Aug. 20 stating that “the description of the proposed
uses set forth in the application for conditional use approval … is not
the same as nor consistent with the Court’s decision,” Barrett said
Friday evening: “I just felt that the description in the submission was
different from the description in the decision. I would say it was
just not complete.”

When asked for specifics, Barrett said: “I’d have to get
the decision out and look at it carefully. I don’t have it in front of
me I just thought in general.”

Barrett said Western & Southern will give a
presentation to the Historic Conservation Board on Monday but declined
to elaborate because it wasn’t finalized.

When asked if Western & Southern will appeal a ruling
in favor of the Anna Louise Inn, Barrett said: “It all depends what the
decision states.”

The Ohio Republican Party has given an excuse for Franklin
County Republican Party Chairman Doug Preisse’s racist comment: Preisse
thought he was off the record. The defense solidifies that
Preisse, who is also a top adviser to Gov. John Kasich, was being honest
— just not public — when he wrote in an email to The Columbus Dispatch,
“I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting process
to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout
machine.” The comment was supposed to defend the Ohio Republican Party’s
position against expanding in-person early voting, but it only revealed
that racial politics play a pivotal role in the Republican Party’s
opposition to expanded voting.

Cincinnati has revealed the first master plan for the city
since 1980. The plan seeks to put back an emphasis on urban living with
policies that are friendlier to the environment and non-automotive
transportation.

President Barack Obama’s campaign will host an open
house at the campaign’s new offices at Over-the-Rhine tomorrow. John
Legend will be there.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank is facing a class action
lawsuit for what the plaintiff calls “payday loans.” The plaintiff
alleges that the bank was charging illegally high interest rates.

University of Cincinnati President Greg Williams is
stepping down, citing personal reasons. Santa Onos, who previously
served as provost, will take over temporarily as interim president.

Greater Cincinnati’s unemployment rate, which is not
adjusted for seasonal factors, remained at 7.2 percent in July. The
number is lower than the state’s unadjusted rate of 7.4 percent and the
federal unadjusted rate of 8.6 percent. Governments typically give
numbers that are seasonally adjusted, which is why in July a 7.2 percent
unemployment rate was reported for Ohio and an 8.3 percent unemployment
rate was reported for the United States.

Obama was in Columbus yesterday. During the trip, the president
talked mostly about young people and education in an attempt to rally
the youth vote.

U.S. spending on health care is set to rise by
50 percent by 2020, a new report says. As part of Obamacare and other
programs, the federal government is trying to bring health-care costs
down, which have risen faster than the rate of inflation in recent
history.

Scientists have caught a glimpse of a red giant — an expanding star in its final stages — devouring one of its own planets. The same will happen to our galaxy someday, painting a fairly grim future for Earth. Fortunately, humanity has a few billion years to find a solution.

Plan Cincinnati seeks to make city friendlier to bikes and environment

The City of Cincinnati today released the final draft for its
plan to “re-establish (Cincinnati) as a model of a thriving urban
city.” Plan Cincinnati, which will be taken up in a public hearing on
Aug. 30 at 6 p.m., is the first master plan for Cincinnati since 1980.

The primary goal behind the plan is to transition the city
away from a model that emphasizes suburban living back to a more urban
model. The plan’s report justifies the shift by attributing it to a new
societal need.

“Dissatisfied, American society is now beginning to
reverse the trend (of suburban living) with the hope of returning to an
environment that is more economically and environmentally sustainable,
less dependent on the automobile, closer in scale to human form, and
ultimately, truly more livable,” the report says.

The plan will make this transition with six guiding
principles: Provide more transportation choices, promote equitable,
affordable housing, enhance economic competitiveness, support existing
communities, coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment,
and value communities and neighborhoods.

The vague principles are outlined in greater detail in the 228-page report, which can be read in full here.

One of the key parts of the plan is its expansion of
options for non-automotive travel. The plan promises to focus more work
on bicycle paths, support a Bicycle and Pedestrian Program and build
links between bicycle systems to allow more cycling through the city.
The city will also “design and construct the Ohio River Bike Trail
through Cincinnati” and make the city safer for cyclists by making roads
smoother and cleaner.

The plan also encourages other transportation programs.
Establishing better coordination with Metro buses, building intercity
rail systems and integrating the new streetcar into a greater
transportation model are a few of the many suggestions in the plan. With
these systems, the plan hopes to “facilitate economic development
opportunities.”

Beyond transportation, the plan also seeks to establish
environmentally friendly programs. Some of the suggestions are
developing a green construction incentive program, implementing smart
grid networks and reforming the LEED tax abatement program to include
additional energy efficient rating systems.

However, the plan is missing one important detail: cost.
The report says Plan Cincinnati will be reviewed every year using the
new Priority-Driven Budgeting process, but no estimates for cost are
currently available. Katherine Keough-Jurs, senior city
planner, explained why in an email: “That is not something that we provide. We have
found over the years that providing cost estimates in long-range plans
is problematic and the estimates can be misleading. Also, some of the
Action Steps listed are not necessarily things that would have a
monetary cost associated.”

Without much fanfare
but with supporters looking on in the Losantiville Room in Union Terminal,
Cincinnati City Council passed an ordinance on Wednesday banning the injection of
wastewater underground within city limits.

“I’m proud to be on
the first City Council to ban injection wells,” said Councilwoman Laure
Quinlivan, who submitted the ordinance to council.

“I want to give props
to the solicitors … who have come up with a very unusual thing in City Council — a one page ordinance.”

The ordinance, which
passed unanimously after being voted out of committee on Tuesday, is aimed at
preventing the injection of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,
under Cincinnati. Its injection has been linked to a dozen earthquakes in
northern Ohio.

Opponents also worry
that the chemicals in the water, which is used to drill underground to free up
gas and oil, can seep into drinking water. Oil and gas companies aren’t
required to disclose which chemicals they use.

It’s unclear if the
city’s ban on wastewater injection would hold up against a 2004 state law that
gives the state of Ohio sole power in regulating oil and gas drilling. That
regulatory power also extends to Class 2 injection wells.

At a news conference
earlier in the day, Quinlivan cited a ProPublica story that said between 2007 and 2010,
one well integrity violation was filed for every six wastewater injection wells.

She says data like this makes it clear injection wells are
too dangerous.

Food and Water Watch organizer Alison Auciello spoke in
support of the City Council ordinance at the news conference.

“We’re pleased City Council has moved swiftly for the protection of its
citizens,” Auciello said.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has received no injection well
permit requests for southwestern Ohio, but Auciello says the legislation is a
good preventive measure.

Heidi Hetzel-Evans, a spokesperson for ODNR, says it wouldn't be feasible to
build injection wells in southwestern Ohio due to the region's geology.

Auciello says more bans like the Cincinnati ordinance are necessary in Ohio.
She says she’s concerned that Ohio is being turned into a dumping ground as
massive amounts of wastewater from Pennsylvania are brought to Ohio due to a
lack of regulation.

Auciello also echoed calls from environmental groups to ban fracking in Ohio.
However, fracking supporters — including Gov. John Kasich — insist the process
can be made safe with proper regulations.

Wording tries to skirt ODNR oversight

Nobody stood up for fracking in today's City Council
committee meeting that saw dozens of people urge council to pass an
ordinance banning injection wells within Cincinnati.

All members of the Strategic Growth Committee voted in
favor of the proposed ordinance, with the exception of Councilman Chris
Seelbach, who was recovering after allegedly being assaulted in downtown Monday night.

If approved, the ordinance would prohibit injections wells
— which inject wastewater underground — from being allowed within city
limits. It now goes before the full council.

The practice is commonly associated with hydraulic
fracturing – or “fracking” — which uses chemical-laced water to drill
for oil and gas. Fracking fluid injected underground has been tied to a
dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio.

A 2004 Ohio law puts regulation of oil and gas drilling
under the state’s purview, preventing municipalities from regulating the
drilling.

The wording of the proposed Cincinnati ordinance doesn’t
mention oil or gas drilling, which proponents say they hope will keep it
from clashing with the state law if it passes.

She says she isn’t sure if the proposed Cincinnati ordinance would conflict with the state law.

“It’s very hard for ODNR to speculate on what might
happen,” she says, adding that there aren’t any injection wells or
applications for them in the Cincinnati area. “This may not be an issue
that’s ever tested.”

That didn’t stop the dozens of people who spoke in favor
of the ordinance at the committee meeting from erupting into applause
once the ordinance was approved.

Barbara Wolf, a documentarian who has made a video about
Cincinnati’s Water Works, said that the city has some of the cleanest
water in the world, and chemicals from hydraulic fracturing could
jeopardize that.

“We are studied by other countries,” Wolf said. “If it
(fracking fluid) goes into the Ohio River, we don’t know what the
chemicals are. It’s very hard to clean up chemicals if you don’t know
what they are. And that’s one of the things we do really well: clean up
chemicals.”

Mayor Mark Mallory and 3CDC representatives were scheduled
to kick off a grand opening celebration of Washington Park at 10 a.m. this
morning. The $48 million renovation includes an underground parking
garage, concession building, dog park and concert space. A rally against
the renovation and displacement of residents was scheduled for 10:30
a.m. CityBeat’s Mike Breen blogged away yesterday about the park’s
scheduled weekly music series.

But I think any Christian should spend much time in
prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals,
business experience, who is against abortion, and shares Christian
conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon.

Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is
casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama — a man who
sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public
ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who
supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.

I hope all Christians give their vote prayerful consideration because voting is a sacred privilege and a serious responsibility.

It was “Rich People Voice Their Concerns Night” at city
councils across town last night, as proponents of the $1 sale of Music
Hall packed Cincinnati City Council chambers even though the proposed
lease deal wasn’t on the agenda. Mayor Mark Mallory insisted that any
middle ground that will allow the nonprofit Music Hall Revitalization
Co. to renovate the building will require that the city retain
ownership.

Across town (and about 10 miles northeast toward the area with mass trees), Madeira City Council shot down a plan to
develop a luxury apartment complex on Camargo Road. Council voted 6-1 to
scrap the plan for a 184-unit complex after residents who voiced
concern said the complex would be “too dense” and take away from the
city’s single-family character. Word on the street is that the Council
majority didn’t want scumbag renters like this guy to be able to move
into the neighborhood and start playing music really loud out of their car stereos.

Cincinnati City Council yesterday pretty much canceled its
plans to build an atrium at City Hall. Six council members approved a
motion asking administrators to shut it down, and City Manager
Milton Dohoney says he’ll abide by it even though he technically doesn’t
have to because the funding was approved in a spending ordinance.

Now that the Supreme Court has temporarily upheld part of Arizona’s racist
controversial immigration law, no-name state legislators in Ohio and
Kentucky plan to break out the laws they couldn’t previously get passed.
According to The Enquirer’s Mark Curnutte (who apparently won a
national book award for his work covering poverty in Haiti — big ups,
Curnutte!), some dudes named Courtney Combs (R-Ross Township, Ohio) and
John Schickel (R-Union, Ky.) have some great ways to rid of their states'
illegal immigrants, at least until the court strikes down the rest of
Arizona’s law.